Description

The youthful king depicted in this statue is identified as Ramses III in several of the inscriptions that are carved on its surface. Ramses III was the last of a long line of powerful military pharaohs beginning with Tuthmosis III, who reigned earlier in the Eighteenth Dynasty. The figure has a false beard and wears a short wig that ends at his broad collar. His name appears mid-chest and the two protective deities, Wadjet and Nekhbet, flank the left and the right sides. His diadem is a simple band with a rearing cobra. A belt with a cartouche encircling his name is atop his short pleated kilt, and a dagger with a double-headed falcon with solar disk is tucked under it. His left hand and arm support a lioness-headed staff that he holds in place next to him. On the king’s left side are the remains of the upper part of a figure wearing a tall crown, perhaps a consort, a prince, or a queen. The full titulary of Ramses III is carved on his staff. The back pillar of the statue originally had a similar inscription.